Lankan vehicle theft ring busted in Japan

An 11-member Sri Lankan theft ring broken up by the Metropolitan Police Department between March and October this year is believed to have stolen about 60 vans and trucks worth a total of 60 million yen over a six-month period beginning in September last year, mostly in the Kanto area, Japan, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

About half the stolen vehicles were Hiace vans. The police allege the boss of the group bought them for 200,000 yen per van from the thieves and then had the stolen vehicles disassembled and brought to Yokohama Port for shipment to Sri Lanka, Thailand and other countries, according to investigative sources.

One of the arrested suspects reportedly told the police that because the Hiace can be used for various purposes, it fetches a high price overseas. The stolen vehicles were reassembled upon arrival at their destinations and marketed there. Some were used as taxicabs and buses, while some engines were diverted for use on fishing boats, the sources said. As the Hiace parts were interchangeable, they were also sold as parts for repair, according to the sources.

This year, the Chiba and Aichi prefectural police have arrested members of theft rings one after another. The ring apprehended by the Aichi prefectural police allegedly had stolen hundreds of vehicles, including Hiaces, since spring last year.

The vehicles were disassembled and the parts exported to the Middle East and Africa.

About 1,000 Hiace vans, a Toyota Motor Corp. model, have been stolen in Tokyo and 16 prefectures this year to date, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

According to a survey by the General Insurance Association of Japan, the Hiace model last year surpassed Toyota’s Land Cruiser sport-utility vehicle model in terms of insurer payouts for stolen autos.

The SUV model had topped the theft insurance payment rankings for four straight years until 2007. Investigators speculated that one reason Hiace vehicles are so prone to theft is strong demand in developing countries. Unlike SUVs, Hiace vans are not generally equipped with an antitheft device, they added. The number of stolen Hiace vehicles began increasing sharply last year.

The Hiace model ranked ninth on the list of insurance payments for stolen cars in 2005 and rose to fifth in 2006.